The lowest basic pay for government employees now stands at Tk 20,000 following the latest raise, up from Tk 130 in the years immediately after independence.

Over the same period, from 1973 to 2026, Bangladesh’s per capita income rose from about $110 to $3,020.

Bangladesh introduced its first national pay scale in 1973, just two years after independence, as the country struggled to rebuild its war-ravaged economy.

The cabinet approved the 9th National Pay Scale, raising the basic salary for the highest grade to Tk 156,000.

The starting basic salary for the lowest grade rose from Tk 8,250 to Tk 20,000, marking the biggest increase, while the highest basic pay crossed Tk 100,000 for the first time.

According to the pay commission website, the government revised civil servants’ salaries in 1977. Under the second national pay scale, the lowest basic salary rose by 73 percent to Tk 225, while the highest increased by 50 percent to Tk 3,000.

The third pay scale, introduced in 1985, brought about one of the sharpest increases. The salary for lowest grade more than doubled, rising by 122.2 percent to Tk 500. The salary for highest grade doubled to Tk 6,000.

Six years later, the fourth pay scale again significantly revised the salary structure. Introduced in 1991, salary for lowest grade was raised by 80 percent to Tk 900 and the highest grade rose by about 67 percent to Tk 10,000.

The fifth pay scale followed in 1997, raising the lowest basic salary by 67 percent to Tk 1,500 and the highest by 50 percent to Tk 15,000.

The sixth pay scale, introduced in 2005, pushed the maximum basic salary beyond Tk 20,000 for the first time. The salary for lowest grade increased by 60 percent to Tk 2,400, while highest grade rose by 53.33 percent to Tk 23,000.

The seventh pay scale, introduced just four years later in 2009, brought another major jump. The salary for lowest grade rose by 70.83 percent to Tk 4,100, while for the highest grade it increased by 73.91 percent to Tk 40,000.

The eighth pay scale, introduced in 2015, was the biggest revision Bangladesh had seen until then. The basic salary for the lowest grade more than doubled, rising by 101.22 percent from Tk 4,100 to Tk 8,250. For the highest grade, basic pay increased by 95 percent from Tk 40,000 to Tk 78,000.

But as the years passed, inflation and rising living costs gradually eroded the value of income, intensifying demands for another revision.

The latest revision comes more than a decade after the previous one with an unprecedented rise in government salary which now ranges from Tk 20,000 for grade 20 to Tk 156,000 for grade 1.

The minimum salary rose by about 142 percent, while the maximum salary rose by 100 percent from Tk 78,000.